Window coverings are provided in a variety of styles and materials, including: blinds that comprise individual horizontal or vertical slats of wood, plastic or metal; and curtains, drapes and shades of fabric or other material.
Blinds can be raised and lowered to selectively cover or uncover a window opening, and the individual slats can be pivoted between spaced, parallel, open positions and overlapping closed positions, but other than these adjustments the initial configuration or shape of the blinds remains fixed.
Curtains and drapes typically hang vertically at opposite sides of a window opening and generally remain fixed in their initial shape and position at the sides of the opening, although they usually can be moved inwardly across the window opening to cover it. However, other than being movable between open and closed positions they retain their initial shape or design.
Shades typically hang from the top of a window opening and can be moved between a lowered position covering the opening and a raised position exposing some or all of the opening. Shades come in a variety of styles and shapes, and generally have a straight horizontal bottom that remains straight and horizontal during use. A popular style of shade, referred to in the art as a Roman shade, is horizontally pleated. The pleats typically are formed by gathering and folding vertically spaced sections of the material and stitching it together. Most conventional Roman shades have a straight, horizontal bottom, but shades are known that have a bottom that can assume different shapes by pulling a selected pull cord or pull cords to unevenly raise different portions of the bottom of the shade. One of these latter designs has a sectional bottom rail that is hinged or interrupted at its midportion and a pull cord is connected to the middle of the bottom of the shade so that when the cord is pulled the middle of the shade bottom is raised, causing the pleated shade to assume an inverted fan shape at the bottom. The shades described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,207,257, 6,431,245 and 6,959,749 are exemplary of the latter type of shades.
Conventional pleated Roman shades are of relatively complex design, in which the material of the shade is gathered and stitched together to form the pleats, producing a relatively heavy and bulky appearance. Further, and at least in those shades described in the patents noted above, there are multiple pull cords that operate to raise and lower the shade in different configurations. Moreover, in those shades known to applicant the pull cords are located at the front of the shade.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a shade in the style of a pleated Roman shade, with an inverted fan shape at its bottom edge, but wherein the pleats are formed without gathering and stitching the material, whereby the shade has a lighter and crisper appearance, and wherein only a single pull cord is used to operate the shade, with the pull cord located behind the shade.